Isa opinions

[kray]

As I am a bit confused about this Isa I would like to hear your opinions.

[kray]

picture are taken under artificial light

[kray]

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more

[Thomas Durante]

Hi Alexander,

The badge itself looks correct, but I suspect the pin and also the catch are replacements. Its an original F&BL IAB, but with replaced hardware IMO.

Tom

[fischer]

Hi Alexander

I agree with Tom's analysis...The badge itself looks to be OK (the obverse pics are not very good) with the catch being repaired/reattached and the badge pin is a replacement.

Best Regards, fischer

[kray]

double post sry

[kray]

Well this is what's bothering me.
The obverse is not that bad imo.
The catch could be repaired because the used catch can be found on F&B's.
The pitting on the reverse is not that bad as the picture shows, in hand it is quite smooth.
What I don't like is the discoloration on the reverse.
Now another thing that nobody seems to recognize is that the pin is marked. I have never seen a F&B pin marked Isa. When I saw this badge for sale I saw this mark on the pin, looking at the obverse (what I do like) I thought I would give it a chance so I bought it cheap.
Hoping this Isa was marked with L/56.
The seller claims this Isa is more then 10 years in their family.
Now when I have it in hands I compared it with my other F&B's.
My others all have a weightrange of 34 till 38 gr (on a kitchenscale).
This Isa has a weight of 42gr. Comparing the measurements (wide and height) these are excactly the same.

Knowing this I would give it a chance it could be an original example with probably repaired catch.

BUT looking at the pin it doens't seems to be marked L/56 ...
It reads L/58

Too many questions pop up imo.
This Isa is realy confusing me.

[fischer]

Well this is what's bothering me.
The obverse is not that bad imo.
The catch could be repaired because the used catch can be found on F&B's.

Here is an L/56 from my collection with the same catch.

From what I can see from your pics, the catch plate looks to have come off and the catch reattached.

I cannot tell for certain if the catch plate itself is missing with the catch reattached to the surface of the badge or
just the catch broke away and then resoldered back onto the plate.

Best Regards, fischer

[kray]

Hi Fischer, the catchplate seems to be missing. It looks like they have resoldered the catch without catchplate.
What do you think about the pin?
They used a Souval pin as replacement?

[fischer]

What I don't like is the discoloration on the reverse.

Here is my unmarked F&BL Design ISA from the horde find of 2008.
These examples came wrapped in the delicate brown tissue paper and the reverse displayed the same type of rainbow coloring that we see on your example.

Best Regards, fischer

[fischer]

Hi Fischer, the catchplate seems to be missing. It looks like they have resoldered the catch without catchplate.
What do you think about the pin?
They used a Souval pin as replacement?

Unfortunately, I cannot tell what the mark looks like. Scans are always helpful in these cases.

The pin itself is a replacement...where it came from or what it's marked, I cannot say.
That said, I myself have never seen a Post War Souval ISA with a marked L/58 pin attached.

The only L/58 marked ISA's I have seen are on the badge itself like my Post War example here.

Best Regards, fischer

[kray]

I have also never seen any L/56 pin marked isa's.
I tried to take a picture of it but that is difficult. On my magnifier I'm 99% sure it read L/58

[stewy]

Hi folks, good discussion. Alex IMO the catch has been repaired, but I'm not sure it ever had a plate. From the pics it doesn't appear so looking at the scorch marks & finish outline. Hinge isn't replaced. As for the pin, I have no idea. Stewy

[kray]

Stewy, I was wondering why you didn't took the bait

I'm tend to believe the badge itself is original, the catch is repaired and the pin is a replacement.
When having this badge in my hands it feels good, there are imo no major red flags to identify it as reproduction. It also don't match any known reproductions.
About the pin, I realy have no clue...

I wished the pin reads L/56 though

[stewy]

I'd love a look at the pin makers mark. I'd like it to be L/56 if the stamp "rolled" a bit, it would be possible. Pin does look a bit awkward, if you know what I mean. Stewy